At the end of every year, we are bombarded by Best Of lists. Taken in total, there are hundreds of books that make it onto one list or another. How do you know which are truly the BEST? Look no further, for here you can find the books that made it onto the most lists. We look at lists from newspapers and magazines such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Publisher's Weekly, and Time; book vendors like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Libby; book blogs and websites such as Book Riot, Electric Lit, and Vulture, and many more to come up with the ultimate list. This year, we looked at 30 different Best Books of 2025 and gave each title a score that represents the number of lists it made it onto. Without further ado...
The best fiction title of the year, with a score of 15, is A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar, followed by a tie for second: Heart the Lover by Lily King and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.
In nonfiction, the top contender is One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad, which made it onto a whopping 13 lists. In second place, with a score of 10, is Baldwin: a Love Story by Nicholas Boggs.
Congratulations to these amazing authors!
See the lists below to find more of the best books of the year. Happy reading!
